As TDC posted here, Fred Bennett was handed his walking papers this afternoon. While this development cannot be considered anything close to surprising, considering how far out of favor Bennett has fallen since his tremendous rookie campaign of '07, many of us have still expressed wonderment at how Bennett could have gone from promising rookie starter to unemployed. More on this in the coming days, I'm sure. Beyond the jump, some quotes from Kubes today about the former Ballhawk Gamecock.

"Obviously, we're going young at that position," Kubiak said. "From that standpoint, it's been tough for Fred. It's been an uphill battle, but he's been very professional. He's handled himself with a lot of class. Fred's had some highs and some lows here. He's been in the starting lineup, out of the starting lineup, back in it, back out. It's part of the process of this league.

"There's no doubt in my mind and in Fred's mind he can play in this league, and I think he will continue to do that. But in fairness to him, we thought it was better to do it today to give him a better chance to move on somewhere else. We wish him the best, but we just made a decision to go with these young guys."

The mothership's official article on the release of Bennett, London Crawford, and Pannel Egboh can be found here. Thoughts on the end of the Fred Bennett Era in Houston?